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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/24381001">Romancing the Throne</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stahlop/pseuds/Stahlop'>Stahlop</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Once Upon a Time (TV)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>F/M</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-05-26</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 01:42:02</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,772</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/24381001</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stahlop/pseuds/Stahlop</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Princess Emma has run off with the notorious Captain Killian Jones, who also happens to be the brother of her father's deceased best friend.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Captain Hook | Killian Jones/Emma Swan, Prince Charming | David Nolan/Snow White | Mary Margaret Blanchard</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>102</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Romancing the Throne</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><ul class="associations">
      <li>For <a href="https://archiveofourown.org/users/Maria81/gifts">Maria81</a>.</li>



    </ul><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is a late birthday present for you Masha! Sorry it took so long to get out. I hope you enjoy it.</p><p>As usual, thank you to my beta, profdanglais.</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <em>
    <span>Dearest Mother and Father,</span>
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    
  </em>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I’m sure you are beside yourself at the thought that I may have been taken or kidnapped, but let me put your fears at rest. I am fine and have left of my own accord. I have fallen in love, and I’m sorry to have to break it to you this way, through a letter, but I wasn’t sure how else to do it. Especially, because I know, Father, that you will not be happy with my choice. I have listened to you and mother tell me your love story so many times and it is something I have always dreamed of. Unfortunately, simpering princes and other highly esteemed men who only have the crown on their mind just don’t make for a great love story. I deserve better than that. I deserve a man who sees me for me and not as a chess piece.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>So, with that said, if you want to send a bird to contact me, I am aboard the </span>
  </em>
  <span>Jolly Roger</span>
  <em>
    <span> with Captain Killian Jones. I know what you’re thinking, that a pirate could never love a princess for more than her wealth. That I’m just being naive in what Killian really wants from me. But I’m not. He loves me and I love him and we want to be together. I’m sorry that I had to run away to prove it, but it was the only thing I could think of to do, what with you about to announce a betrothal to Count Baelfire without even consulting me (yes, I knew about that). </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>I love you both and I hope you can be happy for me having found my true love.</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Love,</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Your Daughter Emma</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What the hell is this?” King David bellows holding up the letter his wife handed him that morning along with some pastries for breakfast. They were enjoying a lazy day; dining in the lounge area of their suite instead of the formal dining room, when Snow dropped the letter in his lap.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It seems our daughter,” Snow says, taking a bite of a delicious almond poppy danish, “has run off with the man she loves.” She says as though this was just an ordinary, everyday occurrence, that their daughter, the heir to the throne, would just run off with a pirate.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>David stares at his wife, her black hair down around her shoulders; not a single strand of gray runs through it yet, unlike at his own temples. It almost reaches the bottom of her breasts. As the queen, she usually wears it up. It was only in these private moments at the beginning and the end of the day that he gets to see the woman he fell in love with all those years ago. She takes another bite of her breakfast, her red lips smiling slightly as they close over the sticky poppy seed paste in the pastry.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What do you know?” David demands. Snow rolls her eyes. She knows how her husband gets when surprised by information, especially when that information is about his beloved daughter. “How did Emma end up with Liam’s brother?” His eyes reflect the hurt he still feels over Liam’s untimely, and unnecessary, death.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>David and Liam were friends before he and Snow met. Before Killian was even born. David’s mother, Ruth, often traded lamb and mutton for fish with Liam’s father, Brennan. When Liam’s mother died while giving birth to Killian, Ruth took the boys in for a while until Brennan could get back on his feet. Having been an only child for his first 14 years (not knowing about his twin brother, James, until a few years later), having an eight-year-old and a newborn underfoot was quite a transition. But they made it work. When Brennan finally settled down in their village, having finally given himself time to grieve for his late wife,  David and Liam were thick as thieves, despite their six year age difference.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>It was only two years later, at the age of 19, that David was contacted by King George to pretend to be James, who had died tragically, and David was set on his path to meet Snow and eventually become king.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>After they stopped Snow’s evil stepmother from trying to take over the kingdom (the woman was convinced that Snow had ruined her life by scaring off her true love and had actually made her eat an apple laced with a sleeping potion; luckily, he and Snow shared True Love, and his kiss defeated not only the sleeping curse, but stripped her stepmother of all powers she had required, don’t ask him how that worked), David went to Brennan to invite his family to come live at their castle. Brennan was grateful and Liam and Killian were ecstatic, though, Brennan refused to accept ‘charity’ and left to continue selling fish and other seaside wares, while David had the boys tutored now that they were fifteen and seven. And while they missed their father, they knew they were being given the opportunity of a lifetime.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Meanwhile, Snow had fallen pregnant quickly after their official nuptials, and the next few years were focused on raising his daughter and getting the kingdoms back in order (they absorbed King George’s kingdom into Snow’s once they were married and George died).</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Liam and Killian relished their lessons, they took up sword fighting, learned to ride horses, and Snow even insisted on making sure they could dance properly for the balls that she threw. At the first dance she was allowed to attend, five-year-old Emma made thirteen-year-old Killian dance with her, Liam and David laughing the whole time at Killian’s ears turning bright red.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Once they were old enough, they joined the kingdom’s navy. David had never been a prouder king and friend than when he finally got to promote Liam to Captain and Killian to Lieutenant. And he never thought lending out his two top officers to a neighboring kingdom for an exchange program meant to foster unity would result in the tragic loss of Liam’s life.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Killian came and told him himself. David barely recognized him. He looked much older than his 20 years, which was ridiculous because when he’d seen him right before they’d left on the mission he’d thought he’d looked so young still. Now there was a hardened man in front of him, grieving over his brother. The king had sent them on, what was supposed to be, a very simple mission to retrieve a supposed healing plant. Except the Dreamshade was actually a poison, and it killed Liam. With tears in his eyes, Killian continued to tell David how he had turned pirate in retaliation, and while he would never attack any ships in the kingdom he had once called home, he couldn’t guarantee safety for any other kingdom, especially the one that killed his brother. And while he knew becoming a pirate made him a wanted man, would David find it in his heart to look the other way as he went after the king of that neighboring kingdom?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>While he didn’t agree to his plan to kill the king, David didn’t disagree with him either. And between Snow’s perfectly placed pieces of gossip and Captain Killian Jones’ attacks from the newly christened </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jolly Roger</span>
  </em>
  <span> the king was ousted and then mysteriously disappeared. Killian sometimes came by the castle to see David and have some connection to Liam again. Eventually, Captain Killian Jones' reputation became too great for King David to associate with, and it was with great sadness that they had to part ways. But Killian was still too angry to do something as respectable as working for a kingdom, and David couldn’t cavort with a pirate, regardless of their history.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>And now, here he was with a letter in his hand stating that his daughter had apparently been cavorting with a pirate right underneath his nose.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Explain!” David demands. Snow huffs and drops the pastry onto her plate and thoroughly wipes her hands on the napkin placed in her lap.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“They met two years ago, at Emma’s 18th birthday ball.” Snow says matter-of-factly. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Two years ago?” David sputters. How can his daughter and his best friend’s brother have been together for two years and he not know about it?</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“It was the Masquerade Ball. It was the perfect way for him to come in disguise without anyone recognizing him. And apparently it worked, because you didn’t even know he was there,” Snow says chuckling a little at this. David is not amused.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Why was he at the ball in the first place?” David says, exasperated at the way Snow is dragging out this story.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I invited him, of course.” She takes a sip of her tea as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. David stares at her as she sets her tea cup down and starts smoothing her night garment down under her robes.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“What is happening here?” he yells. “Snow, I need you to explain why my daughter, the princess, heir to the throne, has run off with the most feared pirate, Captain Killian Jones, and why you willingly invited him to a ball? How did you even contact him?” David thinks he now knows what going crazy must feel like. He thought Emma fleeing in the night with a pirate was bad enough, but Snow is in on this as well? </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Snow gives a little huff as she pushes away from the breakfast table. She walks into her dressing room and sits at her vanity and starts to brush out her hair. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Snow!” David says, incensed, and stomps in to join her. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Snow turns to him, brush in hand, “David!” she says in the exact same tone. He holds her gaze until she finally breaks. David knows Snow can’t keep a secret, although it seems she’s been holding onto this one for quite some time.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine.” Snow huffs again and turns back toward the mirrored glass refusing to look directly at David, but does meet his eyes through the mirror. “I invited him because I knew you missed him, and Liam. I thought you could use your friend again. He keeps port in Arendelle during the colder months, according to Elsa, so I sent a bird with the invite, and he happened to be there. That’s why I wanted it to be a masquerade ball, so he could come in undetected and you two could resume your friendship. And also, because I’d heard through the grapevine that he hadn’t really ‘pirated’ in awhile.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“But I never saw him.” David says, stating the obvious.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“No, he ran into Emma instead. Do you really not remember her dancing with the same man almost the entire ball? I even commented on it once or twice.” David tries to remember the ball. Snow throws many balls throughout the year and they tend to all blend together. But he does remember how beautiful Emma looked in her red ball gown, her hair up in a loose bun, and a tiara topping it all off. She’d not been happy about the tiara, she was very much his daughter, always wanting to sword fight and horseback ride as opposed to learning how to host dinner parties and plan balls with her mother. He vaguely recalls wondering who the stranger she was dancing with was, and thinking he looked familiar (but impossible to tell with a mask on), before being whisked away by Lancelot about some problem at the gates.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And what? They fell in love at first sight?” David asks, still not believing this whole situation has been happening right under his nose. Snow starts to giggle at that. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Oh, no, once she found out that he was not only a pirate but the boy who had grown up in the castle when she was younger, she completely rebuffed him. She practically had a tantrum at the end of the ball, although, out in a secluded hall where they had privacy.” Snow says smiling and knowing what her husband is going to say next.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“She was in a secluded hall with him?” David says, raising his voice again. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Don’t worry,” a voice says from behind him, “I could hear them the whole time. I can always hear them” David turns to see Red, Snow’s closest friend and confidante, also Emma’s godmother, and also a werewolf, who has excellent hearing even as a human. She’s also the only person in the castle who doesn’t get reprimanded for coming into their private chambers unannounced. She is already dressed for the day, her lips done up in bright red lipstick and her curled hair down. While Snow did honor her with the title of a Lady, Red has never acted nor dressed like one. “Do you really think Emma could have a secret romance without me knowing about it?” Red almost looks insulted.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“So, how did they go from Emma rebuffing him, to her running away with him?” Why it is taking Snow so long to get to the part of the story he’s most interested in is beyond David. She’s usually pretty direct, but now it seems she is trying to torture him. Maybe she is. </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“He kissed her.” Red says, stretching out on the chaise. “That same night. She walked away saying it could never work, they were too different, blah, blah, blah, and he went after her and kissed her. And it must have been one hell of a kiss, because he came back two weeks later, and then two weeks after that, and so forth.” Red’s smile was a devious one.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Wait. You mean to tell me Killian has been sneaking into the castle for two years, and no one thought to tell me?” David is at the end of his rope. “I need to sit down.” He collapses onto the other end of the chaise.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, look how you’re reacting David.” Snow admonishes him. “And then you went about trying to find her a husband. I mean, Baelfire, really? Do you know your daughter at all?”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>David thought he had. She’d been attached to his hip from the beginning. Always calming much more easily for him than for Snow. He knew Baelfire wasn’t the best, but she’d shown no interest in any prince or nobleman since she’d become of marriageable age. Of course, now he knew why.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You went along with the Baelfire thing!” David says to Snow. Red has started getting her ready for the day, even though Snow has dressers to do that. She’s always preferred Red’s company over hired help, ever since Red had taken her in when Snow was on the run from her stepmother.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I knew Emma would find out about it. I was trying to get her to come clean to us about Killian. I didn’t think she’d run away with him! Away from us!” Tears form at the corners of her eyes, and David goes over to comfort his half-dressed wife. He realizes that she is just as upset about this as he is, only she already knew Emma was in love. Even if Emma hadn’t told her, she already knew and all she had wanted was to have Emma painted into a corner enough to tell her parents the truth.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They stand there for a moment, David’s arms encircling his wife, memories of their younger days when they were living in the forest on the run, having adventures that they were not quite prepared for bubbling in his mind. Emma is older than he and Snow were when they met. She’s barely been off the castle grounds, even though she’s yearned for adventure since she could walk. How many times had they found her so high up in the trees that they could barely see her? How many times had she snuck out horses to go riding in the middle of the night? How many times had she expressed her sheer and utter boredom of living a life most would dream of? They sheltered her too much, David now realizes. They were so worried about giving her the life they’d been denied at one point, that they never thought about the life she wanted to live. And that had led her to a clandestine relationship with a pirate (albeit, old family friend) right under their (his) noses.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You said that Killian originally came to the ball because he was tired of being a pirate?” David asks, remembering how he glossed over that snippet of information earlier.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Snow breaks their embrace to look at him. “Well, the name Killian Jones hasn’t been mentioned as much recently. I think he’s lost his taste for it.” She frowns slightly. “I’m almost positive he was going to ask you if he could work for you as a privateer.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>David frowns along with her. “So why didn’t he?” He wonders.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Because of Emma.” Red says breaking up the private moment. “He knew she yearned for adventure, and keeping up the pirate persona was exactly what Emma wanted from him, despite his reluctance to keep it up. Plus, once </span>
  <b>she</b>
  <span> asks you to forgive him for being a pirate and making him a privateer, then it all looks like she reformed him.”  Snow and David give Red a befuddled look, wondering how she knows all this. She laughs. “Just because Emma didn’t confide in you two doesn’t mean she didn’t confide in someone. She knew Killian sneaking in wouldn’t get past my hearing.” Red shrugs.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Fine!” David says, throwing his hands up as if he’s just been bested. “Snow, send a bird!”</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Our Dearest Emma,</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Despite what you may believe, your father and I are thrilled that you have found love. We are only sorry that you felt the need to run away with your pirate captain instead of coming to us about it.  We really hope that you will come home so we can discuss this as a family. </span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Love,</span>
  </em>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <em>
    <span>Your Parents</span>
  </em>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
</p><p>
  <span>“They don’t seem mad, love” Killian says, kissing her on the temple. Sometimes he still can’t believe that this beauty by his side chose him. She is dressed in simple blue leather pants and vest over a plain white tunic. Her long blonde hair, which he’s only ever seen down (with the exception of the first night they met), is now up in a messy ponytail with braids throughout to keep the sea wind from making it a tangled mess. He blesses the gods every night that Queen Snow invited him to that ball.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“I don’t know.” Emma says. “This doesn’t seem too easy for you? I run away with a notorious pirate and they’re just okay with it?” </span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Killian tugs on her shoulder to face him, her eyes still lost in the short letter her parents sent. She is, understandably, confused. It’s adorable.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You forget, my love, that I knew your father before I turned pirate. In fact, you’re the same age I was when Liam died and I went rogue. He knows I would never let any harm come to you.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Please don’t ever mention that you and my father used to be friends. It’s weird.” Emma makes a disgusted face and Killian laughs at her while leaning into her to softly kiss her lips.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“And,” he says slowly kissing along her jawbone, “you know I haven’t been ‘notorious’” (he growls that into her ear making her shiver) “since we met.” He pulls away from her. She stares at him, her face showing dissatisfaction at the fact that he stopped what he was doing. Killian gives her the most serious face he can muster when she’s looking so put out, and absentmindedly scratches the back of his neck. “You know I want to do right by you, Emma. This was the plan all along. Make your parents panic a little and then let them think they’ve worked out the solution for us to live happily ever after.”</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>Emma looks into his eyes, the ones she always compares to the blue of the ocean, the ones that she loves to stare into while they make love, and the ones she loves seeing first thing in the morning, usually before he would kiss her passionately on the lips and then sneak out before anyone in the castle knew anything was amiss. She worries her lower lip between her teeth, and slowly nods her head in agreement.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Yes. You’re right, Killian. I…, I guess I just hoped we’d get a little more adventure before we had to go back and start palace life.” Killian smiles at her.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, no one says we have to send a letter back to your parents right away. I think we could spare an extra two days before responding back, don’t you think?” Killian says, waggling his eyebrows.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“You think you’re all sexy when you do that, and I’ll just fall into your arms and do whatever you say, hmm?” Emma says getting face to face with him. Killian lifts just one eyebrow in response.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>“Well, I prefer dashing rapscallion, but sexy works as well. And you do whatever I say because you love me, and you want to spend more time with me before heading home to your parents.” He smirks because he knows he’s right. Emma tries to make it seem like she’s going to disagree, but she can’t resist him for long. She grabs the lapels of his leather duster and pulls him in for a searing kiss before they head back down to his quarters to hammer out what they should write back to her parents, and other more enjoyable activities.</span>
</p><p> </p><p>
  <span>They arrive back at Misthaven a week later, and even though Emma has only been gone a total of two weeks, David notices how much older she seems. And how happy she looks. There is nothing in the realm that would make him want to take that smile from her face. David also sees a sense of calm and peace in Killian. Sure, Killian looks apprehensive when the </span>
  <em>
    <span>Jolly Roger</span>
  </em>
  <span> is met by the King and Queen themselves, but he relaxes immediately when David thrusts his hand out to shake Killian’s in acceptance. They have many details to work out, but in the end, David couldn’t have honored Liam’s memory more than to make Killian part of his family. Maybe someday David will tell them how at that first dance that five-year-old Emma attended, and thirteen-year-old Killian danced embarrassingly with her, that he and Liam joked about them marrying some day. It’s too bad Liam didn’t live to see the joke become a reality.</span>
</p><p><br/>
<br/>
<br/>
</p>
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